Healthcare classmates (7 of 7): New Jersey immigrant.

So, in my one healthcare class, one of my classmates is this (shorter) (younger) (round) (affable) (white) guy with a very (Italian) name, who's an immigrant from New Jersey and who, like a number of other classmates, has one or two large tattoos on his forearm. Sometimes before class, too, he watches anime, and he has a teenage daughter and a girlfriend. Like a week into class when me and him and a couple of other people were standing around talking about Covid hardships during a break, he mentioned that his teenage daughter was bipolar, and that she had to be institutionalized recently, but it was hard to find a facility because of staff shortages and the increased demand from the pandemic. And, he started tearing up when he said that. Like a week after that, too, when patient restraints were being discussed in class, he mentioned that at the one place that his teenage daughter was at, "Someone broke out some glass from the window and they didn't realize it in time, and then, well...", which he trailed off in saying, and which he said to help the teacher in making a point about why restraints aren't often used, but why it's important to use them correctly whenever they're needed.

Healthcare classmates (6 of 6): The woman I walk with.

So, in my one healthcare class, me and another classmate have been walking back to town after class, since it's only like twenty minutes and it's good to stretch your legs and get some exercise and clear your head after class. She's (young) and (tall) and (big built) and (dark-skinned black), and she said she grew up in the area, though some of her family have moved a state over now, and she's thinking of maybe doing that, too. "Would you really want to, though?", I was like. "I would *never* live in a state with a Republican governor, you just don't know what they're going to do, look at what they did with Covid." And, she agreed. She also told me at one point that she's only been to 2 other states, the one state to the east of us, and the one state to the west of us. Also also, once I was telling her about the natural history museum that I had visited in the fall with my parents, and she said that she's always loved dinosaurs ever since she watched Jurassic Park a bunch as a kid, and then she took a note about the name of the museum, so later she could go see if they had anything up on YouTube from their prehistoric whales exhibits that I was telling her about. Overall, too, she's never worked in the field, but wouldn't mind working with the elderly, since her grandmother was so important to her, or maybe with the babies, since she likes babies. She also said her grandmother was a Jehovah's Witness and drove a schoolbus and could be very strict sometimes, but she loved her.

Healthcare classmates (5 of 6): The (vaguely hispanic) woman.

So, in my one healthcare licensing class, at one point I was talking to the one (vaguely hispanic) woman who sits across the room from me. She showed me her wedding pictures to her boyfriend of ten years, who's from Puerto Rico, after she mentioned that they were going to go on vacation to Puerto Rico soon. "Those are nice pictures," I was like, and she said that yes, they were, and that they got married in Vegas, but they brought out the wedding photographer from a small town near where I live now, since all of her wedding photos are so good. "They really are nice," I was like. "They look all spontaneous, like not posed at all, I've never seen any wedding photos like that." "Yes, that's what she does," she was like. Like a week or two later, too, I caught a ride after class with her to go get our weekly Covid tests, and she told me that she's never worked in healthcare before, that she actually used to work in warehouse quality control and she was second-in-command and it was a good job but her boss would take all of the credit, so one day she told him off, and now she's looking to try something different.

Healthcare classmates (4 of 6): The girl who sits next to me.

So, in my one healthcare licensing class that I'm taking, the one (chubby) (mid-20s) (blonde) girl who sits next to me was saying that she's never tried (Indian) food before, and though she goes past the restaurant all the time with her husband, they've never just gotten around to actually stopping and going inside of it. "I hear that once you start, you can't stop, it's so good," she was like. On the day, too, that everyone was talking about the law enforcement class that was meeting in the same building as us, and how it was all like thirty (white) guys and *none* of them were wearing masks, I said that masking was pretty good in town, and she said that she thought so, too, but that once you get out in the country, it's a whole different story. "Last weekend I went to my nephew's wrestling meet with my husband, and we walk in the gymnasium, and no-one has a mask on, and half of them are like senior citizens," she was like. "Like a whole bleacher of old folks, and none of them has a mask."

Healthcare classmates (3 of 4): Quiet blonde girl.

In my one healthcare class, up a few rows from me there sits this really placid, really quiet blonde girl, who pays attention all the time and who seems to be a good student, but who otherwise just sits there, with some pale-green-and-white-shady-tree camouflage coat hanging off of the back of her chair. During a break, I asked her if I could take her blood pressure, since we have to do that for 9 people in addition to the instructor as part of our assignments, with each person who has their vitals taken initialling off on it on the one worksheet that we all got. So, she was like, "Yes," and so I did it. "One-thirty over eighty eight?!", I was like, when I took it. "Yes, that's right," she was like. "I have anxiety."

Healthcare classmates (2 of 4): Four moms.

Last week in my one healthcare licensing class, it was Valentine's Day, and the one (younger) (big-hipped) (dark-skinned black) woman with (some pink cornrows) brought in treats for everyone, a prepackaged Rice Krispies Treat and 3 Starbursts and a homemade brownie in a half Ziploc bag, all of that per person for each person, for like all 16 people in the class. "Ooh, a Rice Krispies treat," I was like, "I haven't had one of those in forever." "I would have made that homemade, too," she was like, "But that's a bit much, and I don't have the time." "I would have bought cupcakes, but I don't have my LINK card!" the one (very young) (white) (slouchy) girl whose hair was (dyed) (a dirty light pink) was like, in front of the whole class. Then, she was like, "I sold it to my sister," like all explaining herself. Later, the topic of fetal health testing came up, and the one (chubby) (mid-20s) (blonde) girl who sits near me and the one (taller) (slightly older) (pale-skinned but vaguely Hispanic) woman both on the other side of the room said that they never got the tests for Down's Syndrome for their kids, since it doesn't matter to them either way.

Three comments of a healthcare class instructor...

...who is (African) from (south-central Africa): 1) "This is hard, when I studied it as a nurse, I did not understand it, and I thought maybe it is because I am African, but no, it is hard." 2) (pointing to a lung strengthening device) "These you see here, but Africa is not well-resourced, when I worked in [name of her country], we used empty balloons, and instructed the patients to blow in them with all their might." 3) (on necessity of full patient care) "Remember, how you treat a patient is how you treat yourself, if you do not wash the patient's hair, it is because you do not wash your hair at home, look at you, are you like that!"